zot1 wrote:Though UC Irvine is all about public service/interest, here's something to think about for those interested in the private sector:

Another positive, with the obvious caveat that this will never hold up, sadly.

what makes you so sure? If they raise and maintain the medians to those of the inaugural class, i can totally see them having a ~20% placement rate.

Not trying to a flame war regarding UCI's legitimacy...but i don't think LSAT medians are how firms determine which grads to hire... Eventually the market will will reach a natural saturation point for UCI grads (as it does with every school). At that point it won't matter how many favors Cheriminsky or other faculty call in. UCI placement will be at the mercy of the market (again, like every other school).

Obviously no one has any idea if UCI's placement will maintain at 20%-ish. But it is clear that placement for that first class was boosted by hardcore gunning by the faculty and tiny class size. 13 out of 56 is impressive only when it's expressed as a percentage. 13 grads is a pretty low number. I'm pretty sure even the current 3L class is bigger than 56..and class sizes will just bigger. Unless market demand for Irvine students shoots up at a faster rate than class increases, expect that placement percentage to drop

you def. make valid points, but let me add/clarify smth. First of all we don't know how many of the 56 wanted biglaw to begin with and, yes, i agree, it is not a representative sample, given that the next class will be 130, with the eventual goal of being about 200.

Of course higher medians don't get you a higher biglaw placement rate directly. However, higher medians demonstrate a higher likelihood of academic success (grades, clerking, etc.), thereby, indirectly increasing the chances of these students to do well at OCI. So, higher medians do matter. For example, in several years, i can potentially see an LA firm taking a UCI student for an SA position with a 3.7 over a UCLA kid with a 3.5. Given how much personal attention the faculty gives to UCI students, maybe there will be more 3.7s thanks to that, as opposed to the less personal enormous 1L sections at UCLA (obv. speculating)

A current UCI student (chase, i think) posted ITT that another UCI class had around 80 students, out of which 30-40 partook in the OCI. So out of those 30-40, 14 got SA positions, which is not bad and even got to penetrate the Bay Area market.

As far as the future trend, obviously none of us know what will happen, but I don't like the determinism that it will be certain that the 23% placement will be unsustainable. Many things can happen - UCI can get a kick-ass top 25 ranking in the first year, thereby, causing CA-wide firms to take notice and come to UCI's OCI IN DROVES (lol just kidding). Your market saturation point is valid, but, again, that's given how small the O.C. market is and that UCI hasn't really expanded itself all over CA. There is little reason to believe that UCI is incapable of consistently breaking (and staying) in SF/SV, for example. SD will be even an easier conquest.

So again, your market saturation point is also right given next year's 130 people class (let's say out of which 65 people decide to do OCI and 20 people get SA positions, which would not be not bad and would be less as a % striking out than at other, higher-ranked schools with big classes). Yet, this doesn't take into account the market expansion into other CA areas, the soon-to-be-published-rankings, and also the links to clerkships already held by UCI students (so it's not all Chem's favors, there will be a gradual positive reputation factor kicking in after a while when judges start remembering UCI kids - assuming they weren't awful, haha).

All in all, yes, i do see that 23% dropping in the next several years, but I believe it will go up again sonner than expected, due to the factors i outlined above.

Again, I'm not going to weigh in on the whole of the discussion in the quotes above. Far too many variables at play to try and theorize on how it works or will work. All of this is very tenuous 0L logic; once you're here, you'll see that the reality of how all of this job and clerkship stuff plays out is far different from 0L theory.

UCI is determined to make this a difficult choice. Good luck to everyone else waiting. If you are convinced UCI is for you but you can't make it work with your current scholly offer, don't give up. Apparently they are willing to move from their initial offers.

UCI is determined to make this a difficult choice. Good luck to everyone else waiting. If you are convinced UCI is for you but you can't make it work with your current scholly offer, don't give up. Apparently they are willing to move from their initial offers.

UCI is determined to make this a difficult choice. Good luck to everyone else waiting. If you are convinced UCI is for you but you can't make it work with your current scholly offer, don't give up. Apparently they are willing to move from their initial offers.

Hey everybody...I just made this profile to jump on this thread. It looks very likely that I will end up at UCI in the fall. I was accepted with a 35k scholarship, and I'm hoping for a little more. My stats: 3.45/161 with great softs (lots of public service experience with non-profits). It seems like a lot of the recent acceptances have been Tier 2 caliber so I don't know if the top-20 aspirations the school has are necessarily realistic...but I'm excited about the elite faculty and the school's growing reputation.

Ghost_of_Tupac wrote:Hey everybody...I just made this profile to jump on this thread. It looks very likely that I will end up at UCI in the fall. I was accepted with a 35k scholarship, and I'm hoping for a little more. My stats: 3.45/161 with great softs (lots of public service experience with non-profits). It seems like a lot of the recent acceptances have been Tier 2 caliber so I don't know if the top-20 aspirations the school has are necessarily realistic...but I'm excited about the elite faculty and the school's growing reputation.

I don't know... Even if they have 162/166 middle 50% that's in line with most of the 20-35 range. Definitely not bottom 50. Not to mention they will probably pull out some tricks for next years class since it will be the one being ranked.

When I got my acceptance letter, it had that line in it about "Unfortunately you are not among the candidates we have chosen to offer a scholarship", etc etc. I never even contacted them about aid, and I just got the email about the Dean's Merit scholarship. I am completely floored right now.

Stats and such are in profile, if you're curious. This has made my decision so, so much harder.

Glad to hear everyone else has been getting increased scholarship offers . As things stand now, I am pretty confident this is where I will attend next year. Looking at your numbers though Merylian, I have no idea how you were not initially considered for a scholarship. Also, it never hurts to solicit for more money to those of you who are currently sitting at nothing or are not happy with your current offers.

Ghost_of_Tupac wrote:Hey everybody...I just made this profile to jump on this thread. It looks very likely that I will end up at UCI in the fall. I was accepted with a 35k scholarship, and I'm hoping for a little more. My stats: 3.45/161 with great softs (lots of public service experience with non-profits). It seems like a lot of the recent acceptances have been Tier 2 caliber so I don't know if the top-20 aspirations the school has are necessarily realistic...but I'm excited about the elite faculty and the school's growing reputation.

Again, faulty OL logic. All schools start dipping down to numbers like yours this late in the cycle.

thatgumyoulike wrote:Email upping my scholly to 40k today. Still hoping for $ from UCLA or SC, but Irvine just made things interesting.

My class was the guaranteed 1/3 scholarship class, but everyone ended up getting bumped to at least 40% (if not more). We were told the reason behind the increased schollys was because of greater fundraising and donations. I thought it wasn't true, then I saw the numbers. Again, it's hard to understand until you're here how much clout Chem has in this community and how baller the development office is with pulling in money.

thatgumyoulike wrote:Email upping my scholly to 40k today. Still hoping for $ from UCLA or SC, but Irvine just made things interesting.

My class was the guaranteed 1/3 scholarship class, but everyone ended up getting bumped to at least 40% (if not more). We were told the reason behind the increased schollys was because of greater fundraising and donations. I thought it wasn't true, then I saw the numbers. Again, it's hard to understand until you're here how much clout Chem has in this community and how baller the development office is with pulling in money.

So, if we have already received a decent amount of money, after asking for it, should we ask again? Or is this just rude and over the top? Especially if numbers aren't that much, at all, above UCI's likely medians?